February 12, 2019

satchel obsession

I’ve been obsessing about getting one of these satchels. But before buying one, three questions need to be answered: 1) why do I want one,  2) from what company should I buy the satchel, and 3) what size should I buy?

I. Why do I want one?

The short answer to this question is I've  always wanted one and they're so darn cute and stylish! The more practical reason is that they seem so functional. Because they're like totes, it's so easy to see everything in them (as opposed to backpacks). They also stand upright on their own so it feels like you have your own personal file box with you at all times. I have these images of me working at my desk with my incredibly useful satchel next to me.

II. What company to buy from?

After a little bit of googling, I came up the with three main companies (there are many other companies, but these three seem to be the biggest or at least the most popular):
  1. The Leather Satchel Company (LSC) 
  2. Cambridge Satchel Company (CSC) 
  3. Zatchels 
After reading quite a few blogs and forum discussions, I decided that I probably want to go with  LSC. I like how informative their website is and how transparent they are about where they source their leathers. A particularly useful blog comparing LSC and CSC leathers also helped me decide that I probably prefer the type of leather used by LSC (thicker and softer) over that used by CSC (thinner and harder). Finally, of the three sites, LSC has the most flexible options for customizing their satchels. For example, you can add a back slip pocket, request a deeper gusset (a very nice feature!), backpack straps (particularly important), and shorten the main crossbody strap (also a nice feature since I'm only 5').
LSC - back slip pocket

As for which would be my second choice, the very public lawsuit between CSC and Zatchels made me think that they both use the same type of leathers, but Zatchels's seems to have more options for customization than CSC and is generally cheaper than CSC. Moreover, CSC seems to have stopped making the landscape satchel backpacks that I wanted. So despite CSC’s fancier website and popularity, I think my second choice would have to be Zatchels. CSC does have some beautiful colors and some very nice purses and clutches. I am particularly in love with these two bags. Are they beautiful?


CSC - Mini Poppy
9” x 6” x 3
tuck luck
CSC - Mini Daisy
8.5” x 5” x 3.75
turn lock

II. What size?

The next thing to decide was what size to buy. To figure this out, I watched countless unboxing and “see-what-I-have-in-my-bag” videos. Two things I noticed right away-- 1) these bags don't seem to hold as much as they would appear and 2) people don’t seem to carry any papers or notebooks with them in their work bags anymore! When did that happen ?!!?! At any rate, the main options from all three sites are 11”, 12.5”/13”, 14”/14.5", and 15” sizes (the different sizes depend on which company you choose). I quickly realized that 11” satchels are basically just purses...and although very adorable, definitely not what I wanted. The 12.5” or 13” satchels are still pretty small-- definitely not large enough to hold a laptop so they, too, were out. The 14” or 14.5" satchels were good candidates, but because of the way satchels are built, you lose a few centimeters in the internal storage so I still worried that they weren’t large enough; some reviewers did note that this size was plenty large for them, but others noted that they were still kind of small as work bags (especially if I wanted to fit papers and books in them). So the 15” satchel was the winner! Still, I have to admit I'm still wondering if a LSC 14" satchel with a deep gusset would be enough mostly because a 14" satchel is only about 2.1lbs whereas a 15" satchel weighs a hefty 2.9lbs (and at that weight, it weighs about as much as my laptop!).

My next worry was that it might be too large (I’m only 5’ tall!). So I decided to try out a 15” satchel backpack before biting the bullet with a $200+ bag from LSC. I ordered this Ecosusi messenger backpack from Amazon for about $60. It's a PU leather bag, but it'll give me a chance to try out carrying this style before I commit to an LSC satchel.

By the way, a worthwhile mention is ruitertassen’s Professor Backpack II. It’s larger (at 15.7” x 12.6” x 6.3”) and heavier (at 4.6lbs) than the other satchels, but it has some great features. Notice that there are two large compartments and two front compartments. There’s also a zip pocket separating the two main compartments. In other words, this bag seems like a it was designed for professors (as indicated in the name) and those who have a lot to put in their work bags.
Finally, let's have a more detail look at LSC's leather types and colors.

Premium Leather is the thickest (2.8mm to 3mm):
Ebony
Mahogany
(also pretty good)
Mersey Blue
(a fav)
Oak
(too dull)
Walnut
(too dark)
Black Olive

Waxy Speckle similar to Classic Leathers, but with more grain showing (2.6mm to 2.8mm):


Royal Claret
Milk Chocolate
London Tan
(my fav)
Greystoke Granite
English Mustard

Pastel, Classic, Neon, & Fashion are really the same leather except for the color (2.6mm to 2.8mm)

Classic

British Racing
Green
Sherwood
Green
Chestnut
Brown
Oxford Blue
Loch Blue
Charcoal
Black
Pillarbox
Red

Pastel


Parma Violet
Sherbet Lemon
Candy Floss
Cloud Cream
Sugared Lime

Fashion

Baby Blue
Fresh-Mint
Rockpool Teal
Snow White
Baby Pink
Cabaret Pink

Coral Reef
Bellflower Purple
Boysenberry
Deep Purple
Double Yellow

And here are the actual colors as bags.

Mersey Blue (Premium)
Mahogany (premium)
London Tan (Waxy Speckle)
Loch Blue (classic)
Pillarbox Red (classic)
Sherwood Green (classic)
Cabaret Pink (fashion)
Cloud Cream (pastel)
Candy Floss (pastel)
BTW, LSC has a really interesting one called the Windsor Broad that I'm kinda in love with.
from LSC
According their site, this broad backpack is large enough to hold a 14" laptop.

Finally, check out the following reviews for more information.

Blogs with Very Useful Info:
  • Lovebezuki
    • Nice review of the differences between leathers from The Leather Company and Cambridge Satchel Company 
    • LSC - thicker and softer, CSC - thinner and harder
  • Tracy Tran
    • 15” satchel holds a lot 
    • Doesn’t love how stiff it is and doesn’t think it holds as much as one would think, but still for me, it seems like more than enough 
  • Melinda Casino
More General blogs:
from The Whimsical Blogger
So what do you think? What color would you get? What size would you get?

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